Vehicles provide a number of controls allowing the driver of the vehicle to control various functions of the vehicle during operation. One control that is typically provided is a gearshift for the transmission. Automatic transmissions are a common type of transmission because it simplifies shifting of the gear speeds. Automatic transmissions include a limited number of control selections such as park, reverse, neutral and drive. This makes driving the vehicle much easier because the driver chooses a single selection and the transmission automatically shifts the various transmission gears based on the speed of the vehicle and the torque of the load.
Several different types of gearshifts are generally available for vehicles. In the case of automatic transmissions, a shift lever is generally provided which the driver operates by moving the shift lever in a pattern. Desirably, the shift lever should be located at a convenient place near the driver for easy operation, for example the shifting lever may be mounted to the vehicle's steering column or center console.
In various automatic transmissions, the shift lever of the gear shift is not mechanically connected to the transmission cable. Rather, a sensor determines the movement of the shift lever between the various operating modes and sends a signal to a motor mechanically coupled to the transmission cable. If this sensor fails, or the motor fails or the system loses power, the driver of the vehicle will be able to move the shift lever between the various operating modes, but the transmission cable will not respond.
Accordingly, while existing gear shift mechanisms are suitable, the need for improvement remains, particularly in providing an alternate apparatus and method for coupling the shift lever to the transmission.